On Sunday, Sotheby’s announced the cancellation of its “Natively Digital: Glitch-ism” auction after an artist withdrew his work.
Patrick Amadon, whose work focuses on glitch art, pulled his piece due to a lack of female-identifying artists in the collection. While acknowledging the oversight was likely unintentional, Amadon emphasized the importance of representation in the industry.
“While I believe it was a genuine oversight and the team means well, the lack of representation is a serious issue and we need to address this in our space,” he said on Twitter. “Female-identifying artists have played a major role in the glitch movement.”
I am pulling my work from the Sothebys sale. While I believe it was a genuine oversight and the team means well, the lack of representation is a serious issue and we need to address this in our space. Female-identifying artists have played a major role in the glitch movement.
— Patrick Amadon (@patrickamadon) March 25, 2023
Sotheby’s “Glitch-ism” is the first online auction of glitch art NFTs from 21 artists. It started on Friday. JPEGs, MP4s, and GIFs with computer glitches make up the artworks. Sales are halted today.
The glitch art genre is rooted in digital art before the existence of digital assets, according to Sotheby’s. The auction followed the “Oddly Satisfying” auction, which was also under the “Natively Digital” umbrella and included 58 NFT pieces by artists such as ARC and Lucas Zanotto.
Amadon explained that the glitch aesthetic, whether referencing cryptocurrency or social commentary, has had a significant impact on the formation of the digital art world.
Amadon stated on Twitter that the piece’s visual flourishes were created by manipulating code in a popular Microsoft program.
“STATIC GLITCH 2013” is the name of the piece of art that was for sale at Sotheby’s. Before Sotheby’s announcement, it had 21 bids, with the most recent one being for $8,500.
𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘎𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩 2013 pic.twitter.com/uDmQaHPJzS
— Patrick Amadon (@patrickamadon) March 24, 2023
The cancellation of the auction highlights the importance of inclusivity and representation in the art world. Amadon’s decision aimed to influence how artists would be exhibited in the future, extending beyond Sotheby’s “Glitch-ism” auction.
“It’s critical that we build this movement correctly,” he said. “Everything we do now not only affects our community today, it will affect thousands on thousands of future artists that inherit what we’ve left them.”
